LC10 was a conventional family hatchback in every sense of the word, and followed industry standard thinking in terms of mechanical layout.
However, because of internal politics, lack of resources and the fact that the Metro had to come first, the Maestro seven years to get into production.
Three-door LC10
Body in white
Stephen Harper styling sketches
All of these images were created in 1983 by Stephen Harper. As can be seen, it’s entirely possible to create a very different looking Maestro, although admittedly, these schemes would require rarther a lot of re-engineering. Interestingly, they all feature front bumpers that look remarkably like the 1988 Turbo version later produced by Tickford…
Photoshop creation
A great rendering of how the three-door Maestro may well have looked had they pushed the ‘go’ button.
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Impressive- ok, no version of the Maestro is ever going to be pretty, but this would certainly have looked far better than the awful 5 door, and in MG trim as a GTi contender, would have been far more convincing looking- after all, in that market sector looks are everything. The XR3 was no great shakes, but that sold and sold.
Why oh why did ARG not put this into production?so many missed opertunities its almost laughable.
Did Stephen Harper work for BL, or are these sketches from the cover of his maths book?
Love the look of near-VAG-like Maestro 3-door sketch, whether it would have looked as good together with a Renault 11-style glassback rear window is a matter entirely though I’ve always liked the look the backend of the late-model phase 2 Renault 11.
Top sketch looks almost R8-like with the two tone and the fastback bootlid.
I much prefer the look of 80s/90s fastback style hatchbacks to the 2 box van-like side profile of modern hatches as popularised by the golf and focus.
The Notchback with a Montego style nose would have looked pretty spiffing IMHO, especially in MG form, with a subtle colour coded bodykit
And to add to that, the notchback might have leaned towards another option..A Maestro cabriolet. Ford and Vauxhall shifted plenty of ‘hot’ open top mid liners, and VW kept pedalling the Mk1 Golf pram to eager punters…Oh it’s a wonderful thing is hindsight
The notchback hatchback is something of a rare beast these days, except for the D segment.
2 box Golf/Focus style hatches are the flavour of the day
Steven Harper’s styling sketches of the 3-door Maestro would look even more existing had the resources also been available to design the Maestro around the S-Series engine and thus allowed for a lower bonnet line as was the case with the Montego.